We have to be thankful to Sen. Lindsey Graham, one of our more theatrical solons, for dramatizing the way in which the Israel lobby intimidates members of Congress: by asking Chuck Hagel if he could name a single Senator who was so intimidated he merely underscored how thoroughly each and every one of them is cowed. The whole spectacle of this public interrogation, with its tiresomely repetitive demands for pledges of undying loyalty to Israel, brought home the truth of Hagel’s remark.

Of course Hagel couldn’tsay that, but the ugly reality resonated in the immense silence that followed this exchange. Interestingly, Hagel didn’t back down: He said "I don’t know." As to what motivates any particular member of Congress on any specific "dumb thing" they do – well, he couldn’t know, could he? But of course, everybody knows about the Israel lobby: and if its power and vindictiveness were ever in danger of being forgotten, then surely the battle over Hagel’s confirmation has reminded us.

To anyone who lives outside the Washington bubble, there was something profoundly weird about the ritualistic invocations of undying loyalty to Israel, a country mentioned 135 times in the course of the
hearing: Afghanistan only merited 27, while al Qaeda got 2 and Mali
one. One would have thought Hagel had been nominated for Israeli Defense Minister instead of the top civilian in the Pentagon. As he faced the pro-Israel "inquisitors" – as Sen. Angus King put it – the educational value of this political drama was worth far more than all the books and articles one could possibly read.

Speaking of motivation, Graham’s grandstanding was preaching to the choir: the wingnuts in his party don’t think he’s right-wing enough, and this is his way of compensating for what the Tea Party types consider sellouts on immigration and other issues dear to their hearts.

However, it was John McCain’s confrontation with his now ex-friend, the former Senator from Nebraska, that was most telling, insofar as it tells us what this whole brouhaha really is about: the country’s verdict on the Iraq war, and the lingering power and influence of thosewholied us into it.

Enraged by Hagel’s observation that the "surge" prefigured the single most disastrous episode in US foreign policy since the Vietnam war, Mad John’s eyes practically popped out of his head. Hagel, sitting there calmly, replied somewhat bemusedly that we’ll "let history judge" who was right about that one.

McCain’s impotence was palpable as he ranted and railed, his red-faced fury assailing Hagel’s stony defiance. If, as one suspects, history’s judgment of the Iraq war will be as harsh as the American people’s, then McCain and his fellow Iraq war dead-enders will be the ones "on the wrong side of history," as the Arizona Senator had the nerve to intone in his scolding lecture – odd coming from such a spectacularly failed presidential candidate. If indeed history has a side — a dubious proposition, at best — at least we can say McCain is on the wrong side of recent history: the American people wanted out of Iraq, they want out of Afghanistan, and they don’t want us meddling in Syria. Yet the tone deaf McCain actually brought up Syria at the hearing, haranguing Hagel and asking "How many more have to die?"

There was a lot of competition as to which Republican senator gave the craziest performance, but I think the prize has to go with the one who came with exhibits, three of them – two of them clips from an Al Jazeera, which Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) helpfully described as a "foreign network, engaged in propaganda." That this was said by someone whose talking points were written by propagandists for another foreign power – namely, Israel – is the kind of irony a wingnut like Cruz is utterly deaf to.

In any case, Cruz presented a severely edited clip of Hagel’s anodyne answer to a question from an Al Jazeera viewer about "moral leadership," which was of no significance – but, according to the esteemed Senator, it was evidence that Hagel believed Israel had committed "war crimes." Go here to look at the entire answer to the question, and the context – which was US-Russian relations, specifically the prospects for nuclear disarmament – rather than the radically abbreviated version played by Cruz. The Al Jazeera announcer intervened in the midst of the questioner’s long disquisition, asking "what is your question about the subject we are discussing, which is nuclear weapons." The questioner then went on to ask about the "lack of moral leadership," and it is clear from the context that Hagel was saying, yes, we need more moral leadership on the issue of nuclear leadership: he said nothing about Israeli war crimes. And while this may be unfortunate, Cruz’s attempt to twist Hagel’s words is contemptible, to say the least.

Citing the same interview, Cruz took the next question from a viewer out of context, averring that Hagel agreed with a caller who said that the "perception and reality" of the US as the "world’s bully" stood in the way of an agreement between the US and Russia on further dismantling of nuclear arsenals. Yet he said nothing about the US being a bully, let alone the world’s bully, and simply went on to utter a harmless bromide about the need to "reach out" and "engage."

Clearly Hagel walked back some of his past positions, in my view unnecessarily – after all, he wasn’t going to convince Sen. Cruz in any event, and it’s important to get the truth on the record. For example, Hagel backed down when Cruz went after his description of Israel’s last attack on Lebanon as a "slaughter," and tried to spin it as a condemnation of Israel. Yet if you look at the entire speech – as Dave Weigel has – it was no such thing. There’s nothing subtle about Cruz’s cherry-picking: it’s crude, and brazen. Not that he cares. A blustering bullying opportunist, whose physical resemblance to Joe McCarthy is an act of justice on Nature’s part, the Republican Senator from Texas cares only about getting that sound-bite on Fox News. In the second round of questioning, Cruz reprised his McCarthyesque performance by declaring that he had "a list of anti-Israel comments" purportedly made by Hagel.

I have in my hands a list! To the irony-proof Cruz, this was a zinger. To the rest of us it was more proof – if that were needed – of the man’s thuggishness.

This entire process has been enormously helpful to those of us who have been trying to open the eyes of the public to the inordinate influence the Israel lobby exerts on Congress and on US foreign policy. A visitor from Mars might imagine he’d landed in the midst of a show trial conducted by some totalitarian regime, with the prisoner in the dock forced to confess and engage in "self-criticism," as the inquisitors looked sternly askance at his recantation.

The Israel Firsters really went out on a limb, this time, and in the end they’ll wind up having sawed it off. Because Hagel is going to be confirmed in spite of their hysterical hate campaign, and what that means is that their power is broken.

No, the Israel lobby isn’t going away: what’s ended, however, is the myth of their invincibility – not to mention the myth of their nonexistence. Remember, it is supposed to be a hate crime of some kind to even mention the Israel lobby, and up until this point the lobbyists and their shills have stoutly maintained that it is a "conspiracy theory" to believe such a thing exists (and also "anti-Semitic"). Now we have Sen. King, independent from Maine, who got in the last word at the hearing when, asking Hagel if he knew who was behind the ads attacking his nomination. Yes, Senator, wouldn’t we like to know!

Among the many darkly comic moments of the hearing, a real howler was introduced at the beginning when Senator Jim Inhofe inquired as to know why Hagel hadn’t bothered replying to a letter sent to him by the resident wingnuts on the committee, listing every organization he’d ever been affiliated with (save the USO) and demanding to know if any of them were recipients of funding from "foreign nations, foreign sovereign funds, [or] foreign corporations."

This is rich, considering the source. While we don’t know exactly where the money for the wide array of anti-Hagel television spots and full page newspaper ads came from – at least $1 million, according to Jim Lobe – many suspect it was due to Sheldon Adelson’s well known generosity when it comes to "pro-Israel" causes. Adelson – who once said he regrets the uniform he wore when he served in the military was American and not Israeli, and whose wife is a dual Israeli-American citizen.

In their effort to "expose" Hagel, the Lobby and its shrinking band of loyal foot soldiers only succeeded in exposing their own weakness. And that is a big step forward for opponents of the War Party. Because it is the Israel lobby that is, today, the main force agitating for war with Iran, and US military intervention in Syria. The Israel lobby is leading the pushback in response to the prospect of big defense cutbacks – because if the American Empire is now contracting, then Israel can no longer huddle under the eagle’s wing. As we have seen in Hagel’s case, it is these lobbyists on behalf of a foreign power who are most aggressive in "policing" the policy establishment in Washington, determined to block those who fail to toe the party line from getting anywhere near the levers of power.

In the past, they might have pulled it off – as they did with Charles Freeman, whom Cruz tried without success to link to Hagel – but not this time. The country has changed: the dark days of the Bush era, when smear campaigns aimed at anyone who challenged the Lobby’s dominance usually ended in the target’s political destruction, are over. The fury and energy of the anti-Hagel campaign only served to underscore its complete impotence and irrelevance: the country has moved on, even if Bill Kristol hasn’t. If the Iraq war didn’t succeed in totally discrediting Kristol and his fellow neocons, then this hearing – with all the vindictiveness and sheer hate of these people on full display – is their Waterloo.

Here is the link for buying the second edition of my 1993 book, Reclaiming the American Right: The Lost Legacy of the Conservative Movement, with an Introduction by Prof. George W. Carey, a Forward by Patrick J. Buchanan, and critical essays by Scott Richert and David Gordon (ISI Books, 2008).

Buy my biography of the great libertarian thinker, An Enemy of the State:
The Life of Murray N. Rothbard (Prometheus
Books,2000), here.

201231100057 Responseshttp%3A%2F%2Foriginal.antiwar.com%2Fjustin%2F2013%2F01%2F31%2Fhagel-hearing-the-war-partys-waterloo%2FHagel+Hearing%3A+The+War+Party%E2%80%99s+Waterloo2013-02-01+05%3A00%3A38Justin+Raimondohttp%3A%2F%2Foriginal.antiwar.com%2F%3Fp%3D2012311000 to “Hagel Hearing: The War Party’s Waterloo”

I saw a lot of groveling today from Hagel. I don't see anything changing much. When are there going to be real opposition people to the Lobby in political office? All I see is a lot of guys afraid to express an honest opinion. Hagel was going to be confirmed the minute he got the blessing of Shumur. What did he promise to get that blessing? I think our friend Justin is just way too optomistic. The Lobby will continue to strangle us until the country is finally ruined.

Justin sometimes tries to will the world in the right direction just by saying it is moving in the right direction, but… if Hagel gets voted in, it will be concrete evidence that the world is moving in the right direction. The only question is how much. My own guess is "a bit." But I haven't been able to say that in a long, long time.

Hagel repeatedly asserted that he regards Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Revolutionary Guard of Iran as terrorist organizations. He abandoned every bold stand he has taken on Israel. Republican Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi said Hagel was reversing himself for political expediency, and that a week after Hagel had told the Omaha World-Herald that he opposed unilateral sanctions (American-only) against Iran, he reversed that position in a letter to progressive Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer.

Hagel rhymes with bagel. Israeli plant? You people are so fickle. If ANYONE has spent their life in politics they are compromised. Bought and paid for. Is anybody's lobby superior to the other's? A whore is a whore. For sale.

Yeah, Joel, the Zionist lobby is vastly superior to, say, the polygamy lobby. Or the Devil Woshippers' lobby. The Zionist lobby is one of the most powerful, dangerous lobbies in America. The fact that millions of dollars have been spent against Hagel–coupled with the fact that the worst Neocon monsters are furious over his nomination–is reason enough to cheer for him.

A man on a mission will do what is required to accomplish the mission…. Was Hagel alarmingly apologetic…??? Sure he was…. But this stuff is too important for the country even the world to let ego in… Someone with new ideas and plans need not telegraph his intentions to those who believe THEY will be the losers in any such contemplated new arrangements…. Why didn't Hagel stand up (and fight) for positions he has taken in the past which have offended those running the attack on him now…??? The simple answer is that there is nothing worthwhile to be gained in such a confrontation BEFORE his conformation. Better to wait till after his hands are on the levers of power, such as they are, over at the Pentagon. Aren't honest people at vast disadvantage in the conformation gauntlet…..???

Our No. 1 Welfare Queen is a jealous Queen and guards the influence she has garnered (purchased) with her vast billions of U.S. taxpayers money.. She defends these tranches of U.S. billions as her entitlement as fiercely as a mother lion does her cubs. Hagel's ideas inevitably call to question all such arrangements on all germain fronts… He has said far too much already ……. Moreover, trying to "justify" some of his "controversial" past statements would be apt to widen the scope of contention to his disadvantage…

Perhaps this just another show like the hope and change one we were to get before this time…. Another Trojan Horse…??? Running America for America and Americans has become contentious…… There are so many better ways to conduct State affairs for the good of the country and those living and working here…. other than squandering blood and treasure on false flag wars like Iraq and Vietnam… and most likely Afghanistan….. These Neo-wars profit the few, cost the many and burden America with debt that more and more turns us into a post productive wasteland of blight that America is and has become…

truth be told: it is the Senators who are groveling before the Israeli lobby and this is not lost on the American public. Their pro-Israeli objections to hagel revela them for what they truly are: Israeli puppets.

I was listening to Mark Levine on my way home last night, and he was all lathered up from listening to the Hagel hearings. He played several clips of Graham asking Hagel to name someone intimidated by the "Jewish Lobby,' and Hagel's muttering that he could not. Then he played clips of McCain asking Hagel if he still thought the Surge was a bad idea, and Hagel answering by weasling out of answering. Levine was furious because Hagel is anti-Israel and wants to destroy the only super-power on the planet.

I was furious because Hagel was spineless. He would have done the world a favor by asking Graham who would come to visit him, and what pressure would be brought to bear, if he, Graham, were to publicly criticise Israel. He would have helped to correct the historical record by pointing out the Surge was a farce and that it was not the billions of dollars in men and equipment that flooded Iraq that helped quiet things down, but the billions in payoffs to the very people our soldiers were supposed to be fighting that ended the bloodshed…only to set the stage for the bloodshed we see today.

Hagel lied to the n eocons and they know it! He will remove thousands of the neocon plants inside Defense, middle and senoir management loyal to that filthy disgusting warmongering trash will be purged! America has awaken! By the way Tea Party wants CUTS in Defense and else where.

That chick senator from N.H Ayoute, was outclassed by Hagel when that airhead tried to spew the Neocon crapola that she had NO independant knowledge of. What a stoop she is.
What foxholes were you in baby? She hangs around with the worst filthn in D.C. NeoCons!

Perhaps Justin is correct that this opened a few people's eyes about the true nature of the Zionist lobby. But so should the apartied-style destruction of Palestinian homes without any due process. It really doesn't help. Lets face it, even if the few have their eyes opened, congress will chose to ignore these disgusting neocon animals. Tis better to be feared than loved. This political truism first proclaimed by Nicolo Machiavelli is being executed to perfection by this Israelis, Zionist, zealot Jewish lobby on congress.

Watching our spineless senators sucking up to the military industrial complex and AIPAC didn't inspire me to break into…And the land of the free and the home of the brave. That was a black day in our history.

well i wasn't as impressed with hagel's performance. i thought he "himmed and hauled" on things there was no reason to. why not just destroy mccain and graham with the truth? why not use the opportunity the moment provides you to really let these two clowns, both complicit in war crimes have it..and that doesn't even get into the rest. if hagel is our "hope", well it's a damn small piece of hope if i've ever seen one. until someone comes out and gets as equally as determined and bellicose if need be we're just going to be going round and round and round and round…..this nightmare carousel ride needs to stop. who has the stones to say "have you decency mr. graham/mccain etc??"

Justin again makes the valid and broad point: a Hagel confirmation is a small step forward, and a defeat for the neocons and Israeli apologist lobby. Hagel isn't Jimmy Stewart in some movie role or even a principled politician like Ron Paul. But he will get confirmed and survived this clownish hearing just fine.
Some are so soaked in cynicism that they fail to see the bigger picture here. A small victory for common sense. Let us take comfort in the wailing of our enemies. The warmongers of all stripes will continue to lie, but they no longer can exclusively call the foreign policy shots.

Hope I'm wrong, but I'm not as convinced as Justin that Hagel will be confirmed in the end. Unless my facts are incorrect, it only takes one senator to put a hold on the nomination, after which the senate would need 60 votes to break the filibuster. Although I am not educated as to the inner workings of this mysterious body, I can envision many ambitious GOP senators being willing to initiate the hold. If this occurs and lingers on, could a scenario develop in which Hagel (perhaps pushed by a wavering Obama), steps down for the 'good of the country' without the Senate ever voting? After all, the opposition to Hagel is intense, while support (surely the majority) is generally tepid outside the pages of antiwar.

I wish Hagel had said it was the "billions in payoffs" to the Sunni opposition, that quelled the extreme violence. A commenter at consortiumnews may have what is the best answer to refute the surge pretension: "From my son’s boots-on-the-ground, the Surge was expensive military flatulence versus the creation of trust and salaries for the Iraqi military so that they stopped fighting us and focused instead on the other foreigners from Al Qaeda." (per Jym Allyn)

The disbanded Iraqi military? The same one left without jobs by pro-consul Paul Bremer? It wasn't the surge, it was salaries and trust for the discarded Iraqi army. Let's be specific.

I was not talking about qualit of comment , rather the lenght of it, because you have to write within certain LIMIT and if your comment is LONGER, you get a pup out message telling you your comment is too long. That's all.

Yes, I think that is going to happen, but, you see, this is also justice being done because if the US elites were to realize of their criminal and perfidious behaviour, they could still save themselves and their country, but some kind of superior justice doesn't want it that way. The US must go all the way down and ruin itself and pay for its monstrous deeds because otherwise all the crimes in Iraq, Afghanistan, and so on would go unpunished and THIS CANNOT BE.

The ridiculous notion that Hagel merely "lied to the neocons" implies that once confirmed as SecDef he will somehow recover his backbone and in addition somehow impose his will on Obama. This stupid notion only works if one believes the FANTASY that Obama himself is somehow still a "Peace President" and has no intentions of continuing HIS drone war and HIS persecution of Iran.

The fact of the matter is that Hagel will adhere to the Administration party line on everything. He will not appear to any different than Panetta or other Admin officials who occasionally strayed SLIGHTLY from the official positions or made generic comments that could be interpreted either way.

The notion that any of this will materially affect the march to war with Syria and Iran is just pathetically ridiculous.

Folks are being a bit rough on Raimondo. Anyone who tries to run the Antiwar ezine for over a dozen years in this pathologically belligerent culture has got to be at least a little optimistic. Give the guy a break.

I'm afraid Raimondo is spinning it. I know. it's hard to face the truth. Hagel caved and he caved totally. If he can't stand up to these warmongers how effective will he be as DefSec? Too bad he didn't stand on conviction. Even if he had gone down in defeat he would have provided a valuable service to America. I suppose a weak and feckless Hagel is better than some of the alternatives – but not that much better. Sad.

Should 'we' compare what the almighty "Antiwar ezine" has done for the "Palestinian people" and "Peace" (other than whine and collect $$$) and what the "Assad regime" has done–in "reality", of course???

What has even Hamas done, besides instigate conflicts and drag dead bodies of Palestinians through the streets…

I have been enjoying Justin's articles and am with him on the worldview; however, I am afraid this one is a bit too optimistic. Although I had hopes that Hagel would buck the neocons and the Israel Lobby, I have doubts he did so successfully. The "system", or the powerful national security state, a.k.a "the "Unspeakable", referred to by James W. Douglass in his book, "JFK and the Unspeakable, Why he died and why it matters" exists today just as it did back in JFK's time. The "Unspeakable" killed JFK for his attempts at peace-mongering, and it is just as ruthless today.

destroy meaning bury them with truth. instead of sitting their grovelling like a scared little boy. i'm sure the wars iraq, afghanistan, libya and mali will be over minutes after hagel's confirmation. this country will no longer be in a permanent war posture. the cover cia op in syria will stop. iran will be left alone to do as it pleases. f**ing please back at you buddy. back at you twice. keep pining your hope on professional liars and prostitutes. it's working great for our republic.

I'll be another one of the flies in the ointment with this one. I think he's a team player i.e, he'll play us just like Obama if / when he gets in. I think Justin is way way too hopeful about this guy. It seems as if he wants the SOD position bad enough to pay the piper. Unfortunate for those of us who care about this country. How the heck Kerry slipped in is frightening enough in itself since he was to much of a coward to fight in his past situation. Woe be to us with these pawns or should I say prawns since they'll be dipped in hot oil soon enough. Yikes!

If this was Ron Paul up here he would speak the truth regardless and explain his position. He wouldnt apologize like Hagel did and rebuke every righteous thing he said in the past. Hagel is just another politician in which this hearing clearly shows. If he gets sworn in or not who cares it will still be status quo. We have no strong minded Americans anymore they are all compromised and it is sickening to watch. The last real American Ron Paul has left the scene. Now all we have is pro Israel neo cons left.

Justin Raimondo is the editorial director of Antiwar.com, and a senior fellow at the Randolph Bourne Institute. He is a contributing editor at The American Conservative, and writes a monthly column for Chronicles. He is the author of Reclaiming the American Right: The Lost Legacy of the Conservative Movement [Center for Libertarian Studies, 1993; Intercollegiate Studies Institute, 2000], and An Enemy of the State: The Life of Murray N. Rothbard [Prometheus Books, 2000].